by A. D. Wills
“You're lucky we're not out there with you lad! I'd still fly circles around you,” Climor grumbled back in a winded huff.
“You're right, we are lucky you're not out here with us,” Eszu returned in jest.
“We've saved you lot plenty of times before, and you know it plenty damn well,” Goga added.
“Then show us how useful you can still be, and help out for once, instead of eating, smoking, and drinking everything in sight,” Ralak finished.
Goga and Climor grumbled to themselves. It's not like they could argue with Ralak there, but manual labor in retirement wasn't high on their priorities. If anything, they viewed day's like today as a day off to get away with what they want.
Eszu mounted his yellow feathered roc, and everyone else beside him followed suit—their rocs' talons gripping the very edges of Eldaesa about to spring off into the distant foggy morning sky.
“You all better be ready for another feast we bring back tonight!” Eszu shouted out to joyous cheers.
Their rocs wide spanning wings shot out to catch the wind, and darted well out of sight in a matter of moments at blistering speeds.
Skala now found herself as the temporary leader, standing before everyone else left behind. She never expected to have to do this, but she wasn't nervous either. As awkward as it felt right now, she knew it was her chance to prove herself. That alone was motivation enough.
“We should start by making sure everything in the great hall is prepared for the feast later. I will help with everything I can, gathering, preparing—anything you need. You can be sure to rely on me. I might not be familiar with much of this, but please bear with me. Let's all get through this day as we always do, and make sure we have everything in order for everyone's return.”
Goga and Climor bumbled along to approach Skala with matching mumbling among themselves while everyone else followed orders.
“You know Skala, we could just go around the side of the hall, maybe light up a fresh pipe of laef, and tell you when Climor and I helped raid all the way across the west sea in Ustas.” Goga approached, his wrinkled scaly face, and scarred up body, trying to tempt Skala, while the others were already working away.
“I've heard that one before.” Skala began her patrol, largely ignoring the two as they followed behind.
“Well, there's also this time we nearly fell out of the skies over the white sea from our rocs tiring. If not for finding that great whale to land on, we would have been long gone,” Climor insisted with his wheezy voice they had a story to tell, but more importantly an excuse to burn time.
“What I heard from my brother, you both fell behind, got lost, and had to rest on that whale while the others came back to get you,” Skala snickered a little at their expense. “Just get going with helping the others, and I'll listen to one of your stories at the feast.”
“Alright, but we're holding you to it.” Goga pointed back, lighting up a fresh pipe anyway to go and look for some light work to do.
Managing to get Climor and Goga to get some work done for a bit was arguably her greatest challenge, and now already out of the way, regardless how little they might actually accomplish in the end.
Skala saw everyone already hard at work chopping down the marked pine trees from the last time they gathered, ensuring they would only take the oldest ones. After all, these trees were about some of the only things that grew up on the mountain. They couldn't afford chopping too many.
“Skala! Here, look what I found just lying on the ground,” one of the children rushed up to Skala, handing her a bundle of pine needles.
Skala wasn't sure how to ever handle speaking to a child, and looked at the bunch of pine needles wholly uninterested. “Thanks, I'll be sure to...put them somewhere later,” an awful excuse, but one that was easily accepted by the gullible toddler who excitedly ran back to her mother chopping away at a tree.
“Wait Sera!” A worried parent shrieked in horror over the creaking of a falling tree behind the child.
Skala whipped her head around, and saw a tree slowly tipping over above the child's head, but the clueless child ran in a straight line toward her mother. Skala sprinted as fast as her legs would take her—dashing effortlessly through the deep snow.
“Move! You have to move to the side, now!” Skala shouted, but it only caused Sera to stop in her tracks, and look back frozen with fear and confusion.
Skala spotted an ax impaled in a nearby stump, pulled it out in stride on her way, threw herself in front of Sera bumping her out of the way from the falling tree, and desperately plunged the ax deep into it. Skala's entire body shook violently for the few seconds she was able to keep the massive tree up, and made sure Sera was out of the way before she herself rolled out of the way in a strained pant.
The mother ran over in a fit. “Sera, please don't ever do that again, listen to me next time,” the mother scolded, but was happier than anything she was alright. “I'm so sorry. Thank you so much Skala, thank you.” The mother reached around her child who tightly embraced her, and graciously grabbed Skala's hands in thanks.
“It might be best if the two of you wait in the great hall and warm up. I can take it from here,” Skala assured the shaken mother, who agreed, and started to make her way back to the great hall.
Skala chopped up the rest of the fallen tree herself, and stacked it all up in a nearby wheelbarrow to take back to the hall for the others to set up into the scattered fire pits. Already, it was a little more stressful than she anticipated, but thankfully, everything else appeared to be going well.
Taking a slight moment of reprieve, Skala went to grab some water, but as she wiped her mouth, she noticed in the corner of her eye that Goga and Climor approached her.
“Skala, a minute?” Climor asked as their old bodies struggled to catch up.
“I'm still not allowing the two of you inside the great hall until Eszu and the others return,” Skala made her way over with a tired look.
“Can't you give a couple of old birds some benefit of the doubt?” Goga wheezed out a laugh, though, he was obviously guilty of sneaking about, somehow having a full bottle of liquor he and Climor looked to have been happily passing around with it half empty.
“Somehow I struggle to spare any benefits for you two,” Skala noticed the bottle she suspected they somehow nabbed.
“It's about something we've been working on, you know, after hearing you were going to take charge today,” Climor cleared up, adding a nudge for Goga to pass the bottle back to him. “It'll only take a minute...” Climor implored.
Skala halted, conceded with a nodding sigh—anticipating the two of them to have some sort of scheme in mind they would drag her into, as per usual.
“We made this for you, a charm,” Goga began, as he held out a feathered necklace with a single dragon's tooth dangling on it. “It might give you a bit of luck on your first hunt, when you make it of course.”
Skala took the necklace in hand, surprised to say the least the two of them made it for her.
“We know Eszu's not chosen you yet, but after today, I'd be damn near shocked if you weren't on the next one. Even if there's no room, I'm sure he'll make some,” Climor assured Skala, as she put on the necklace with beaming with pride.
“He wouldn't have given you this chance to show your mettle leading us for a day, if he didn't think you were on the brink of joining. Besides, you're stronger than either one of us ever were, and we managed to hang on for years," Goga joked.
“And we'll even let you in on a secret...” Climor continued in a bit of a buzzed stupor. “Eszu's not worried about strength, it's important, but as long as you can work with others like you've been doing today, he'll have you in the unit of hunters until you're too old to tag along.”
Skala wasn't sure how to react to their unexpected generosity. She was so grateful they would even commit such a gesture, regardless how small. Hearing them say that, it helped melt all all of her worries and doubts that have been festering in the
back of her head, they all disappeared entirely.
“Thank you both,” Skala nodded with a rare smile behind her usually hardened exterior.
Cutting off Skala, was the ringing of a bell on one of the small watch-towers.
“Dragon! There's a Dra—” The lookout shouted at the top of his lungs, but when Skala and the others looked up, the massive dragon quickly reduced the lookout to a pile of bones, melting his skin clean off.
They could usually spot them from afar, but not this one. Somehow, a creature this big slipped through until the last second.
“Get the children and those who can't fight inside right now!” Skala screamed as loud as she could over the panicking shrieks. “Everyone who can fight, with me! We won't be letting this beast take our home, not today.”
“That bastard's bigger than any Dragon I've ever seen...” Climor stared in awe, before Goga grabbed him to join the others with Skala.
“Come on, we 'ain't got time staring like this!” Goga shouted in snapping Climor out of his daze.
The gigantic Dragon's blue metallic looking scales shimmered in the daylight, hovering around calmly above everyone as if to taunt them. Stranger was that Skala could swear she saw the dragon look down at them with an intentional goading smirk. But they were supposed to be mindless beasts of destruction, nothing more.
Veterans and anyone else who could take up arms in defending their home heard Skala's rallying cry, and rushed to arm up as quickly as they could before meeting her. None of them hesitated despite the daunting odds.
All of the children and some parents rushed inside the great hall while a couple of veteran Dracus eagerly waited to corral, and quickly lock the doors shut behind them until the Dragon left or was defeated. It was the one building in Eldaesa known to be able to withstand the nastiest of Dragon's fire, or falling rubble.
Skala kept a sharp eye on the hovering Dragon, wondering just what it was doing, when it opened up it's giant maw again, this time, down onto a group of Dracus rallying to gather up some weapons, and join with everyone in their stand.
“Get out of there now!” Skala tried to shout to the other Dracus on their way to join up, but they couldn't hear her over the deafening beating of the Dragon's wings.
The Dragon shot out a yellow hazy breath down to corrode their skin away without any effort to it. That's all it took, an instant to render them to a pile of scattered bones. Nothing glorious about it, just wanton destruction.
Skala's eyes widened in a fiery rage. Her blood boiling, and went to grab a spear off a nearby rack—nearly snapping the head clean off without even realizing.
“We don't have any time to prepare more than we are now, but I need you all to trust in me. We have one job. We're killing that beast today, we're going to take its head, and show them they have no place here. We are the ones trusted to defend our home when Eszu and the others are on their hunt, and we're going to do just that. This is why we're here, so we will not fail,” Not with a rallying shout, but with focused seething rage did Skala fire everyone up. “But first, we need to take that thing away from Eldaesa. We can't let any more damage be done. I have an idea, but I'm going to need your help—Goga, Climor.”
“Anything you need, we'll help take that bastard down if it costs us our lives,” Climor said, with Goga agreeing.
“I need you to lead the Dragon away as far as you can, while the others following below the clouds. I know the Dragon will suspect us following it, but we'll use the clouds as cover. Meanwhile, I'll pursue from above, and when the Dragon is far enough, drop off your rocs, and the others will catch you. You likely won't have any time to stop, or get away otherwise without it catching you.”
It was a plan made entirely on a whim, but it was the best Skala could come up with for the time being, and all she cared about right now was leading the Dragon away from Eldaesa to prevent any further damage and loss. No one had any objections either, and hopped on their rocs without hesitation with their respective weapons.
Goga and Climor took the lead ahead of the others, doing just as Skala explained, flying side by side and catching the Dragon's greedy piercing eyes who turned to follow them as planned.
“Just like old times, eh?” Goga shouted through the wind, and the beating of the Dragon's chasing wings.
“This'll show Eszu and the others we've still got it,” Climor replied with a confident grin, leaning forward and hugging the roc's neck, going as fast as the roc could possibly carry him, but still only barely out reach from the Dragons' creeping claws that would surely slice them both with ease.
Both Goga and Climor glanced down to see the others sometimes barely appearing through the wispy clouds, ready to catch them. Only a couple more minutes racing ahead of the Dragon was all they needed to leave Eldaesa out of sight, and they would free fall onto their allies.
The Dragon was entirely entranced with the prospect of catching Goga and Climor, pleased to have a bit of a chase with its prey. The longer they raced though, Goga and Climor's rocs began to lose a bit of speed. Rocs weren't especially great at traveling at such high speeds for long. They could fly for days, just not this fast.
Little by little, Goga, and Climor could feel the hot breath from the dragon's nostrils blowing at their backs. Just a little longer though is all they needed, but at this rate, it felt like the dragon could almost swallow them up at any moment.
Once they couldn't see Eldaesa, they looked over at one another, rolled off their rocs, and their companions were there just as instructed by Skala—catching both Goga and Climor.
The others rushed over a couple of unmounted rocs for Goga and Climor to get on. They all looked up at the shiny golden belly of the beast right over them through the breaks in some of the clouds. It didn't bother to look down, or change direction, but kept coasting along with ease, while the others below it struggled to stay steady. Even seemingly far enough below its wings, the Dragon whipped up a violent enough gust that caused everyone to forcibly dip down uncontrollably from time to time.
“Where's Skala? She should have been here by now right?” Goga shouted to Climor who rode alongside him.
“She said she'd be right above us, but I don't see her, not past that damn beast,” Climor replied. The thought of Skala possibly falling behind crept in.
The Dragon peered down out of boredom, and blew all the clouds away in sight, hovering ready to finish off the gnats beneath it. Upon opening it's wide maw to attack, Skala emerged from the skies above, leaping down through the clouds off her roc with her sturdy spear in hand, and a heavy chain wrapped around her body. Her ferocious battle cry echoed even over the beating of the Dragon's wings, and she plunged her spear into the back of the beast.
“Do it now, take it from below!” Skala screamed as loud as she could.
They took the chance while they had it, and flew up to stab the Dragon in its soft belly with Skala diverting its attention, and the dragon flailing about. None of them spared any spear, or held back—leaving an array of weapons impaled deep inside of it as its blood gushed out below like a breaking dam raining down upon them all.
The Dragon let out harrowing shrieks of pain—sounds the likes of which none of the Dracus had ever heard before. More than a wailing beast, it sounded like a spoken shout. It was only for a short moment though, as the dragon beat its wings down in one heavy gust, throwing everyone around as they whirled aimlessly away desperately clutching hold of the reins to stay on their rocs.
Skala still somehow remained on the Dragon's back, holding on tight to the spear inside of its back acting as an anchor. She could see though that her spear had barely punctured it, and was only wedged between the thick scales and spikes on its back.
Even with all the damage done below, the dragon still wailed in a frenzy, trying to buck Skala off, while dispersing the others from making any further attacks. It's as if all they've done was agitate it at most.
“That was our only window to attack its one vulnerable area...” Skala cring
ed. “We've got to keep pressing though, come on think...think.”
Skala tried to devise some sort of plan, but there weren't any options. She hoped it might bleed out at this rate, but she knew they wouldn't be able to simply wait, and hope for that.
Slowly, she made her way up the spine of the giant Dragon, clutching hold of every blunt stubby spike within reach. Her movements didn't go unnoticed however, and the Dragon turned its head over its shoulder to look right at Skala. But she stared right back, eyes sharpened with years of bubbling hatred behind them.
The dragon opened up its maw, ready to melt Skala away without anywhere for her to run, or avoid it—bracing herself for the worst, when more spears rained down from the others having moved above.
“We're not done with you!” Goga shouted with a fiery look he hadn't shot in ages, diverting the Dragon's attention after having maneuvered above it.
Skala took advantage of that tiny window, sprinting up to the head of the dragon as fast as she could.
The others buzzed around the dragon, like annoying flies the Dragon barely missed, swatting wildly at them. They dipped and dived around its face full of courage, affording Skala every chance they could, but once the Dragon had seemingly reached its peak of short patience, it opened its maw on the others, and expelled a toxic plume, catching a chunk of the group in its corrosive wave—rendering them all to bones and ash falling from the sky.
Goga, Climor, Skala and those who remained frozen in horror. Every bit of their momentum and strategy was thrown out the window, and halted. It was as though it was merely playing with its food before he stopped having fun.
“You goddamn dragon...I've had enough watching you kill my fellow Dracus for sixty years. It's time I return the favor!” Goga shouted in a visceral cry, tears flowing down his scaly scarred up cheeks, and flew through the dust of his fallen comrades—spear in hand.
“Goga stop!” Skala shouted out with wide flushed eyes, but even if Goga heard her, he wasn't stopping for anyone now.
The Dragon opened its maw wide open, about to blow another devastating attack.